Tag: Markets

Electricity markets are broken; they no longer fulfil their primary functions of providing appropriate signals for producers and consumers. The problem arises from a combination of changes in technology (from predominantly marginal cost plants to predominantly capital cost plants) and of policy (support for intermittent renewable plants) which undermine traditional market structures. In the view […]

Energy may not be the biggest issue in the impending referendum on the UK’s EU membership. However, energy policy is increasingly being developed at EU level and the EU is aiming to achieve a full ‘Energy Union’, so it is important for those with an interest in energy and decarbonisation to understand the arguments, and […]

This paper argues that electricity markets in Europe are broken. The increasing penetration of subsidised, zero marginal cost, intermittent generation has distorted prices to the extent that they can no longer give effective signals for investment or operation. The problem is increasingly being recognised but there is no consensus on the solution. The paper considers […]

This comment analyses the oil price dynamics in 2009 arguing that 2009 represents a remarkable year in at least two respects: it witnessed the sharpest increase in spot oil prices in decades; and in the second half of 2009 it exhibited a high degree of relative stability despite a very uncertain and volatile global economic […]